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Hiring The Best People
Interview Agenda
Tips for Effective Interviewing
Closed & Open Ended Questions
Closed Ended Questions
Open Ended Questions
Targeted Selection
Job Requirement Definitions and
Sample Interview Questions 15-20
Non-Traditional Interview Questions 21-25
Sample Interview Template
Reference Check Questions
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27-29
Chart of Legal Questions 30-33
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6-7
8-9
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13-14

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One of the goals of this guide is to learn to plan a logical structured interview with preplanned interview questions. You’ll learn to why it’s important to take control of the interview process by:
• Asking open ended questions
• Taking notes
• Seeking contrary information
• Allowing silence if necessary

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Additionally you will learn a method of interviewing called “Targeted
Selection” – some people refer to it as “Behavioral Interviewing”.
Targeted selection teaches you to gather specific job related behavior from the job applicants past work experience.
Basically it shows you that past behavior predicts future behavior. How someone acted in a previous situation at another job or in another situation is a pretty good indicator of how they’ll act in similar situation.
You can find out if a person has or doesn’t have the skills you are looking for. You will be basing your hiring decision on facts and information, not just guesses.

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Finally you will review some of the legality of the hiring process. What is legal and not legal to ask.?
Legal action in the hiring process usually comes about by:
• lack of preparation,
• failing to use a structured consistent process
• not asking questions that are job related.

Establish rapport
• Open the interview and help the applicants feel at ease
• Introduce the interview panel & describe how you will conduct the interview
• Ask the applicant if they have any questions before you begin
• Ask them if they know anything about Pacific University.
• Tell them about Pacific University and tell them about the position they are interviewing for.
Ask open-ended questions
• Use prepared job relevant questions to learn about their skills, knowledge and abilities
• Focus on the job’s challenges and specific tasks
• Encourage the applicant to elaborate on responses by using follow-up questions, silence and paraphrasing the applicant’s initial response
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Invite the applicant to ask questions
• Ask: “What is your understanding of the position?”
• Ask: What questions do you have for me about the position or the university?’
Describe what happens next
• How soon will a decision be made?
• How will the applicant be notified?
• When would the position start?
Thank the person for their interest and taking time to interview.
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When Interviewing Applicants…
Allow for silence
Once you ask a question, sit quietly while the candidate thinks of a response.
Control the interview by redirecting the conversation
– Develop questions in advance of the interview
– Maintain the focus of the interview
– Make smooth transitions from one topic to another
– Allocate time appropriately
– Return to the original questions when the answer is vague
– Pace the interview

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Seek contrary evidence
– Assess if your impressions or assumptions are one-sided
– Probe further to validate or challenge your assumptions
Gain behavioral examples
– Gather specific information & examples
– Focus on past performance rather than personality traits
Take notes
– Make notes on applicant’s responses during the interview
– Was the applicant prepared for the interview?
– Note dress, appearance, timeliness if relevant

Closed and Open - Ended Questions
• Closed-ended questions allow the job applicant to give simple yes/no answers. You would use this method of questioning to get information about certain qualifications such as licenses or certifications.
• Open-ended questions are used to encourage the job applicant to give more thorough information.
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Closed-Ended Questions
Interviewer
• “Are you attentive to details?”
• “Are you willing to work hard?”
• “Are you good with people?”
Candidate’s Responses
• “Yes”
• “No”
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• Open-Ended Questions
• Interviewer
• “Tell me about a time when…”
• “Give me an example of…”
• “How do you go about…”
• Candidate’s Responses
• “When I was…”
• “Three years ago…”
• “I remember when…”
• “I once had an experience…”
• “Once in an emergency, I…”
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Targeted Selection is a behavioral approach to improved hiring decisions.
The goal of every targeted selection interviewer is to collect job-related behavior from an applicant's past history. Interviewers are trained to focus their interview skills and selection decisions on five basic interview principles.
1. Use past behavior to predict future behavior: Behavior in one situation usually predicts behavior in a similar situation at a later time. For example, banks lend money to people with a proven tract record of paying loans back. There is a strong overlap between the past performance situation and the performance situation being predicted.
2. Interview for the critical job requirements: The interviewer should be guided by a list of skills, special qualities, knowledge or behavior for the position he/she is interviewing for. This list is developed by identifying those aspects of on-the-job performance that are most critical to getting the job done (job description).

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3. Organize your interview into a system: Hiring decisions are based on the evaluation of applicant information accumulated from a variety of sources.
Prepare by reviewing the resume and selecting relevant background areas to focus on. State the purpose of the interview and describe the interview process. Tell about the job and give information about the company.
Prepare your planned behavioral questions, let the applicant ask questions and close the interview.
4. Apply effective interviewing skills and techniques: An interview is only as good as the questions asked. Follow your system, take notes, maintain the applicant’s self-esteem and control the pace of the interview.
5. Exchange information with the other managers involved in interviewing.

Initiative
Actively attempts to influence events and people to achieve goals; self
Starting rather than passive acceptance. Taking imaginative, creative action to achieve goals beyond what is called for.
• Tell me about a situation where you went above and beyond the call of duty.
What happened? Why did you do it?
• Give me an example of being in a situation where things were not going well and you turned it around. What did you do? Why did you do it? What was the outcome?
• What was the most difficult task you've had to learn? What did you do to learn? What was the result?
• What is a recent responsibility you have taken on? Why did you assume this responsibility.
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Job Requirement Definitions and Sample interview Questions
Motivation
The activities that stimulate and intrinsically reward an individual.
• Give me an example of when you worked the hardest and felt the greatest sense of achievement. What did you do? What happened?
• Tell me about a recent frustrating experience. Why were you frustrated?
What did you do? What were the results?
• Tell me about your favorite club or activity? What specifically makes it your favorite? What has been your role/how have you progressed?
• Tell me about your job search strategy. What actions have you taken?
Results?
• When did you feel the most significant achievement in a work situation?
What did you do and why was it so rewarding?
• How do you spend your free time? What do you like about why?
and
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Job Requirement Definitions and Sample
Interview Questions
Stress Tolerance
Stability of performance under pressure and/ or opposition. Handling disappointment and/or rejection while maintaining effectiveness.
• Tell me about a situation in which you were rejected. How did you handle the outcome?
• What has been your greatest obstacle? How have you dealt with it? What was the result?
• Give an example of when your work was criticized. What was wrong with it and how did you deal with it?
• Give me a time in the past year when you have been opposed in a discussion.
How did you react?
• What kind of pressure do you feel at work/school?
• Under what conditions and in what environment do you work best? Give specific examples.
• How often is your schedule upset by unforeseen circumstances? Give me a recent example and how do you handle it.
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Job Requirement Definitions and Sample
Interview Questions
Leadership
Utilization of appropriate interpersonal styles and methods in guiding
Individuals (subordinates, peers, superiors) or groups toward maximum results.
• What has been your most difficult experience in giving others direction?
What specifically did you do? What was the outcome?
• Tell me about your most challenging leadership role. What was your role in the group? What was the result?
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Job Requirement Definitions and Sample
Interview Questions
Decision Making
Readiness to make decisions, tender judgments, and to commit with confidence after carefully weighing the consequences of alternative actions. Risk taking balanced by judgment in selecting a course of action in which the benefits appear greater than the risks.
• Tell me about procrastinating about a decision in the last 6 months. Why did you do it? What was the outcome?
• What is the most important decision you've had to make in the last six months? Did you seek advice? What did you decide? Did it work?
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Persuasiveness
Ability to convince others, help groups to work together.
• Tell me about a relationship where a person started out as an adversary and is now a supporter.
• Tell me about your most difficult supervisor. Give me an example. How did you handle this supervisor?
• Give me an example of convincing someone to extend a deadline.
• Tell me about convincing a group to make a change you felt necessary.
What was the change? How did you convince them? Why did you feel it was necessary?
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Questions To Reveal Integrity/Honesty/Trustworthiness
• Discuss a time when your integrity was challenged. How did you handle it?
• What would you do if someone asked you to do something unethical?
• Have you ever experience a loss for doing what is right?
• Have you ever asked for forgiveness for doing something wrong?
• In what business situations do you feel honesty would be inappropriate?
• If you saw a co-worker doing something dishonest, would you tell your boss? What would you do about it?
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Questions To Reveal Personality/Temperament/Ability To Work
With Others
• What brings you joy?
• If you took out a full-page ad in the New York Times and had to describe yourself in only three words, what would those words be?
• How would you describe your personality?
• What motivates you the most?
• If I call your references, what will they say about you?
• Do you consider yourself a risk taker? Describe a situation in which you had to take a risk.
• What kind of environment would you like to work in?
• What kinds of people would you rather not work with?

Questions To Reveal Personality/Temperament/Ability To Work
With Others (continued)
• What kinds of responsibilities would you like to avoid in your next job?
• What are two or three examples of tasks that you do not particularly enjoy doing? Indicate how you remain motivated to complete those tasks.
• What kinds of people bug you?
• Tell me about a work situation that irritated you.
• Have you ever had to resolve a conflict with a co-worker or customer? How did you resolve it?
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Questions To Reveal Managerial Ability
• Describe the appropriate relationship between a supervisor and subordinates.
• What sort of relationships do you have with your associates, both at the same level and above and below you?
• How have you worked as a member of teams in the past?
• Tell me about some of the groups you’ve had to get cooperation from. What did you do?
• What is your management style? How do you think your subordinates perceive you?
• As a manager, have you ever had to fire anyone? If so, what were the circumstances, and how did you handle it?

Questions To Reveal Managerial Ability
• Have you ever been in a situation where a project was returned for errors? What effect did this have on you?
• What previous job was the most frustrating and why?
• Tell me about the best boss you ever had. Now tell me about the worst boss. What made it tough to work for him or her?
• What do you think you owe to your employer?
• What does your employer owe to you?
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Response Comments Competency
Communicates effectively and appropriately with students, faculty, staff and the public.
Question
Demonstrates critical thinking skills in problem solving and decision making.
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Hello, My name is and I work in the
(department) at Pacific University. We are seriously considering hiring (applicant’s name) formerly employed by you. I’d like to ask you a few questions about him/her, is this a convenient time for you?
1. Can you tell me the dates he/she was with your organization?
2. What was your relationship to him/her?
3. What type of work did he/she do? What was his/her job title?
4. What are his/her strong points?
5. What are his/her weak points?
6. How did he/she get along with others?
7. How would you compare his/her work to the work of others who performed the same job?
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8. Why did he/she leave the position?
9. Would you employ this person again? If not, why not?
10. Is there anything else you would like to comment on regarding
(applicant's name) employment or job performance?
11. Is there anyone else who could give me information on this individual?
12. Are you aware of any reason why we should not consider this applicant for employment?
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Optional Questions
• Was he/she a self motivated person? How would you rate his/her initiative and follow-through?
• To what extent is he/she capable of working independently?
Capable of working in a team?
• When there was a particularly urgent assignment, what steps did he/she take to get it done on time?
• Was he/she absent from work or late to work frequently?
• What type of management style would best help him/her to be a top performer?
• What is the biggest change you’ve seen in him/her? Where has he/she grown the most?

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Topic
Family Status
Chart of Legal Questions
Legal Question Discriminatory
Questions
Are you married?
What is your spouses’ name?
Do you have any children?
Are you pregnant?
What are your childcare arrangements?
What is your race?
Do you have any responsibilities that conflict with the job attendance or travel arrangements?
Ask of all applicants!
None Race
Religion What is your religion?
Where do you go to church?
What are you religious holidays?
None
Can you work the required schedule?
You may inquire about availability for weekend work?

Topic
Military Service
Gender/Sex
Age
Chart of Legal Questions
Discriminatory
Questions
What type of discharge did you receive?
Legal Question
How do you think your experience in the military would benefit you in this position?
Do you prefer working for a man or a woman?
How old are you?
What is your birth date?
When did you graduate from school?
None
Avoid comments that imply that gender is a factor in the hiring decision.
If hired can you provide proof that you are at least 18 years of age?
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Chart of Legal Questions
Legal Question Topic Discriminatory
Questions
Arrest or convictions of a crime
Have you ever been arrested
National Origin Are you a U.S. Citizen?
Where were you born?
Have you ever been convicted of a crime?
You must state that a conviction will be considered only as it relates to fitness to perform the job being sought.
Can you show proof of your eligibility to work in the U.S.?
Are you fluent in any languages other than
English (You may ask this questions if it is a job requirement)
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Topic
Height/Weight
Disability
Chart of Legal Questions
Discriminatory
Question
Legal Question
Are you disabled?
What is the nature or severity of you disability?
An applicant’s height or weight cannot a factor in the job process.
Are you able to perform the essential functions of this job with or without reasonable accommodation?
Show the applicant the position description so they can give an informed answer
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